21st Century Gaming

Gaming is everywhere. It’s ubiquitous. It’s become part of the everyday fabric of our lives. From the world of work and industry, to the world of art and leisure, gamified interfaces are everywhere.

We are playing more than ever before.

A recent study published by Limelight networks, The State of Online Gaming 2019, found that playing time has increased 19.3 percent in the last year. The amount that 26-35 year old demographic plays for has increased by a staggering 25%.

A defining feature of 21st century gaming has to be the increasing acceptance and respect of gaming as a profession. Since the start of the 21st century, playing video games professionally in sport-like tournaments has become normal for any online game. This is known as Esports.

It has become so popular that teams are competing for ridiculously high amounts of money. The highest prize pool was Dota 2s ‘The International 8’ in 2018, which had a prize pool of $25.5 million.

The limelight survey shows that professional gaming has become a much more mainstream aspiration and realistic career choice. 36 percent of gamers would quit their jobs if they could support themselves as professional video gamers.

The smart phone has, of course, been a game changer. Casual Single-Player games (such as Candy Crush, Angry Birds, and Spider Solitaire) are played most often when we want a brief diversion at work, at the gym or on the tube.

However, the Limelight survey shows that gamers 18-25 are more likely to consider themselves expert gamers than older ones and prefer to play First-Person Shooter games, such as Overwatch, Destiny 2 and Battle Royale games including Fortnite.

Seeing these statistics, its no surprise that video games sell millions of copies every year. To put it into perspective, here is a list of the top 6 bestselling games of 2018.

6. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Coming in at sixth place is the latest entry in one of Nintendo’s most beloved and only fighting game franchise, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

In its first 11 days, the game sold 3 million copies, making the fastest selling game in the series.

Since its release, it has sold over 5 million copies, however many believe the only reason this game isn’t higher up on this list is because it was released in December 2018.

This meant it only had a month to sell before the end of the year, and the fact that it got sixth place in that time is really impressive.

The game was also a critical success, achieving a high Metacritic Score of 93/100.

5. Marvel’s Spiderman

At the start of 2019, the PS4 exclusive Spiderman game was reported to have sold around 9 million copies since its launch in September 2018, which is a huge number for a game that is exclusive to one platform.

In its opening weekend, it sold 3.3 million copies, making about $198 million.

This number beats the last Spiderman movies opening weekend by about $117 million.

The game also achieved a high Metacritic Score of 87/100, which you might think is a bit strange as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has a higher score.

4. Madden NFL 19

In fourth is the first of two sports games that will appear on this list, the latest edition of EAs Madden series.

Right now, this game is predicted to have sold around 10 million copies, unfortunately EA hasn’t released the exact numbers yet.

However, they did confirm that in its first week the game sold 788,006 copies.

While this isn’t as impressive as Smash Bros and Spiderman’s opening week, the game had a lot longer to sell as it came out in August 2018, giving it almost half a year to sell, and it is the first game on this list available on multiple consoles.

The game also has a Metacritic Score of 81/100, which is the lowest score on this list. This shows that critical acclaim doesn’t always result in the highest sales, especially for sports games which are some of the most popular video games out there.

3. NBA 2K19

Coming it at third is 2K Games newest edition of their most popular sports games franchise, NBA 2K19.

This game sold around 1.23 million copies in its opening weekend, and it is estimated to have sold around 11 million copies since its release in September 2018, making it the king of sports games for 2018.

These are very impressive numbers as it managed to outsell Madden 19, despite releasing a whole month after Madden was released.

The game also has a Metacritic Score of 83/100, and some believe that this is why the game managed to sell more than Madden in a shorter time frame.

2. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

In second place is the latest entry of the Call of Duty franchise, Black Ops 4, which came as a surprise to many gamers as it’s a series that has been considered ‘dead’ for a few years now.

The game managed to bring the franchise back from the grave by earning a huge $500 million in its opening weekend.

By the end of 2018, it has been estimated to have sold around 20 million copies, proving the series is now alive and kicking again.

This number is made even more impressive by the fact that it was released in October 2018, and managed to outsell Spiderman, Madden and NBA in a shorter amount of time.

The games Metacritic Score is a solid 85/100, and this critical success likely resulted in many people jumping back into Call of Duty in 2018.

You may have also noticed that now were in the top 3, the Metacritic Score are on the rise again.

1.Red Dead Redemption 2

I’m sure you expected this, but in first place is the highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2.

The game finally released in at the end of October 2018 after 8 years of waiting, and sold 17 million copies and made $725 million dollars in its first three days.

By the end of 2018, the game had sold a giant total of 23 million copies. This is likely due to the massive amount of hype built around the game over the last few years.

Fans of the original have been waiting for this to be made since 2010, and Rockstar Games, the creators of Grand Theft Auto, are considered one of the greatest game’s studios in the world.

The game was also originally announced in 2016, and was supposed to be released in Autumn 2017, but was push back twice, firstly to spring 2018, and then to autumn 2018, which left people waiting even longer for it to be released.

This game also has the highest Metacritic Score on this list, 97/100, meaning critically it is also considered the best game of 2018.

So, what’s next? Game designer and scholar, Eric Zimmerman, calls the 21st century "the ludic century"; a century defined by gaming -- economically, socially and culturally. And he wasn’t wrong. The gaming industry is the leading entertainment industry globally and gaming has permeated every aspect of modern life. And not just video games, but game-like structures are being applied to all domains of human life.